VW Polo

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At a glance

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Two travellers with hand luggage — easy to stash at Škver or the Topla promenade lots, light on fuel for the Dubrovnik run.

• Couples basing in Herceg Novi
• Short Igalo stays
• Croatian day trips

The VW Polo on Herceg Novi roads

Behind the wheel

The current Polo is the sensible small Volkswagen, and in Herceg Novi you notice straight away that the 1.0 TSI 95 hp three-cylinder is matched better to the terrain than to the Mk8 Golf's sales brochure. The five-speed manual is light, the clutch bite is forgiving on the climb away from the Topla seafront, and at town speeds the cabin is quieter than the three-cylinder thrum suggests. Around the stepped residential streets east of the Stari Grad, where every third car is on two wheels half-up a kerb, the Polo places its front wheels where you put them. Firm over the tramlines of the Njegoševa main drag, planted through the long Jadranska Magistrala sweepers.

On Herceg Novi roads

On Herceg Novi roads the car earns its reputation. The short climb from Škver past Kanli Kula up towards Savina Monastery is a perfect Polo stage — second gear, turbo in the middle, nose tucking neatly. The bay-edge descent to Kamenari for the ferry to Lepetane works the brakes but nothing else, and the 15-minute hop to the Debeli Brijeg border for a Dubrovnik day is dispatched without drama. Where it starts asking for more are the blind hairpins above Kobila towards the Žanjice road, where 95 hp is working visibly for the last 200 metres up to the cliff-top pullout. On the coastal road east to Budva, fifth gear runs out of headroom on the longer climbs — this is not a high-speed cruiser.

Space and load

The 351-litre boot takes two cabin-size wheelie cases and a couple of soft bags, which covers a couple doing four nights in Herceg Novi with a Dubrovnik overnight tacked on. Fold the rear seats flat and a Mamula snorkel kit goes in — two sets of fins, towels, a dry bag, a small cool-box — for a Žanjice bay boat day. It will not take a family of four with pram and a week's spa clothes for Igalo; that is the 308's job. Think of it as a two-person car with occasional grown-up children on the back seat for the 30-minute run round to Perast.

Best journeys for this car

The Polo belongs to the couple basing in a Topla apartment for four or five nights and wanting a car that slides into the angled bays by the Škver seafront without stress. It also suits the spa visitor splitting days between Igalo treatments and short drives out to Savina Monastery or down to the Rose village at the Luštica peninsula tip. Cruise-ship passengers hiring for a day from the Port of Kotor terminal use it for the Kotor-Perast-Risan loop then a quick hop across to see what Herceg Novi looks like on the western side of the bay. Solo long-stayers like it for the same reason: cheap, parkable, unintimidating.

Practical notes

Fuel consumption settles at 5.5 L/100 km on the mix of bay-road cruising and short climbs that a typical Herceg Novi week generates, meaning a full tank covers the entire Boka loop to Kotor, Risan, Perast and back, plus a Dubrovnik day, with headroom. Petrol stations cluster along the coastal road — the Eko and MOL stations west of Igalo and north of Kamenari are the easy refills. Parking is unusually friendly at 4,074 mm: the Topla promenade lots take it without drama, and the short length means the back-street bays behind the Njegoševa stairs sometimes have space when the front seafront is full. Summer AC is adequate; on a 35°C July afternoon you notice the compressor load on the small engine.

The verdict

Pick the Polo if your Herceg Novi is coastal, two people, and mostly about parking somewhere tight at the end of each day. Skip it if you need three-plus passengers, plan a BiH day via Trebinje, or want a car that cruises the Adriatic Highway at 120 without the engine sounding tired.

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• Air Conditioning
• Bluetooth Audio
• USB Charging
• Central Locking